Halloween over, Christmas countdown begins!

So, now that Halloween is over, the Christmas rush shall begin. In my vow to not let the Christmas Chaos beckon my inner Scrooge, I'm starting on my Christmas projects and shopping earlier than normal. And since my dearest husband may still be combining thru December due to our wetter than normal fall, I may have to do most of the gift shopping myself. Normally Andy and I take a day and get all of our shopping done. We have a great day of shopping and a nice lunch out - I think both of us usually look forward to it. That may not happen this year..... So, here's a nifty little gift bad that I've already whipped up:


I know, I know - it's adorable isn't it??? I got the template from Papertrey Ink, and ran with it. It's a pretty good sized bag - the front and back take up an entire 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper (including the bottom and sides). I used Kraft paper as the base, then covered it with DSP from Merry Moments. The ribbon crazed person that I am actually broke out the twill tape to use in leiu of ribbon. *gasp* I actually love the look it gives here. The tree is from the Patterned Pines Hostess Set from Stampin' Up, and I punched it out with the Wide Oval punch. The scalloped oval is from my Nestabilities die set - which works well with the Big Shot! I think the Big Shot was probably my best purchase over the last year. I like the fact that you can cut and emboss with it, and it works with other dies - they do not have to be SU dies.


Here is a close up - isn't it stinkin' cute??? I just love those trees.